Sonntag, August 16, 2009

The Day I almost drowned myself and lost my Ticket

August 16/09...10:37 p.m.

This is all about our pleasure cruise aboard a vessel on the river Rhone in France. - Since we did not want to be under pressure to reach the ship for boarding at 3:00 p.m. we decided to fly into Lyon the previous day. Also there had been that Bocuse birthday dinner the night before our departure. But that is another story. So we arrived pretty early in the morning at Lyon. We had an amazing small plane, and it had been occupied about 1/3rd, gave you the feeling "daddy is going to take you flying" very relaxing. - We had booked for a night into a hotel "Cour des Loges" situated right in the old part of town, very charming and unique - but that is another story. We were lucky to have our room right away, had a leisurely breakfast and then Herr Husband decideded to take a nap and curious Landfrau decided to roam the old part of the town of Lyon. We had been in Lyon before, so I knew a bit about the whereabouts. Decided to take the "furniculaire" (rack railway) up to the hill, where the Basilica" is situated. You have a marvellous view from up there all over Lyon. Tickets you buy at the bottom and you only can enter after having devaluated your ticket. After having visited the Basilica, enjoyed the view and walked around for a bit, I decided to take the trip back down. Looked into my purse - no ticket - . Looked again and again, no ticket. Decided then that I must have lost it while taking out my camera. Started to look around on the ground where I had been walking around, found a lot of tickets, none looked familiar. By then people must have thougt there was a nut walking around collecting cast away tickets. Problem is, you can not buy a new ticket at the upper station and you can not enter without a ticket. Had a last checkup into my handbag, and what grinned at my..my ticket. Had been hiding in a side pocket. So I had been quite happy that I did not have to decend on foot in the mid day heat. - by the time I arrived back at the hotel I decided to hava a swim in the tiny pool at the roof. A nice, little wellness center, but not a soul around. Dipped into the pool, which had been extremely tiny, and found out it was equipped with a device, which you could adjust to swim against. It gave a warning that one should put it to lowest level afer usage. Well, the idiot having used it before me had left it on the highest level and idiot me pushed the button and was thrown around like in a terrific surf, thought I really would not get out . Finally managed to reach the button and adjust it. From then on it had been great and I made a mess using lot of towels and walking dripping all over the place. Punishment! And at night we dined at Bocuse, but that is another story, as I said before.